WEBVTT - EP 109: Former Priority Exec Talks Jay-Z to Master P 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:05.680 When I wrote, y'all all across the USC conton watch 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:10.680 thank to l A. Come on the California the Valley. 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:14.200 We represent that kind of county. So if you're keeping 0:00:14.200 --> 0:00:16.840 it real on your side of your town, you tune 0:00:16.880 --> 0:00:22.120 into Gangster Chronicles Gangster Chronic Goals. We're gonna tell you 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:25.479 how we go. If I like my nose, a girl 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:27.720 like Pinocchio, We're gonna tell you the truth and nothing 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:32.640 but the gangster chronic goals. This is not your average show. 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.680 You're now tuned into the rail m C eight, Bick 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:45.199 James and mixtails from the streets. Hello. We like to 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.720 welcome everyone to this special episode against the Chronicles and 0:00:48.760 --> 0:00:51.199 I have a very special guest and here with us 0:00:51.240 --> 0:00:53.760 a night man Um. I had a pleasure of sitting 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:56.960 down with music executive Ron Sparling. Ron is working the 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:00.520 music industry for almost thirty years. You know, a pro Regulus. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:02.720 He worked with such notable acts as Jay Z and 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:06.000 Master Piege No Limit Records. You know his lengthy career. 0:01:06.120 --> 0:01:08.880 Ryn has had a hand in selling almost thirty billion records. 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.480 That's a lot of money generated. Are you doing a 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:14.360 later wrong? I'm doing great. Still good to see you, 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.160 my brother Nicey and you too as well. You know, 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:19.640 the first thing I gotta start off with. Man, you know, 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:22.480 you got a real impressive resumen. How did you wind 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:24.639 up in the business? How did you wind up in music? 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:28.679 You know what I'll tell you, steal Um and some 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.959 people do know this story. I didn't pick music. Music 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:34.559 pick me and I kind of have lived my life 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:38.280 like that. But I was working as an hourly employee 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:42.200 and UM in a store in St. Louis, Missouri, and 0:01:42.400 --> 0:01:45.080 UM I ended up in their executive training program and 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.960 when they promoted me up, it was a discount store 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.840 called Venture Stores. I ended up becoming an assistant buyer 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:53.480 at corporate and it was in music. So that was 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:56.440 the very very early days of me getting a taste 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.800 that there was something to do in music besides having 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:01.840 a mike in your hand or a guitar in your hand. 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:05.800 So you just started off. So you started off a 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:09.600 retail there, I did. I started off in retail. And 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.040 I'll tell you a funny story, steal. I got out 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.120 of college and I thought I was gonna own the 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:16.640 world and be president of the world, right because uh, 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:19.919 you know, I had a college education. That was unusual 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:22.760 in my family. So I'm all proud of that. And 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.000 I ended up making three dollars and thirty five cents 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:28.400 an hour right after college. So my dreams of owning 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:30.880 and and and running the world were a little bit 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:34.680 uh shattered at that point. You're a little bit shadow soon. 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.359 Let let's jump up on the first major job you 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:42.680 have about as soon as that Priority Records, right it is. 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.800 I I had been a buyer in music and the 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:48.680 real I had worked for an independent label before that 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:51.400 for about a year, but my first real break in 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:54.440 the business was at Priority Records. And I joined Priority 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:59.400 Records in very early days in nine actually oh so nineties, 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:01.840 So you were when m w A first came and 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.400 all those guys, yep. I had had an opportunity to 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:09.080 work with Easy and Jerry Heller and UH and you know, 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.320 certainly with Cube and Wren and Yella and and UH 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:15.239 and Dre back in those days. So as a very 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.120 young sales executive at that time, that was my first taste. 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.240 I'll um, when I first got the Priority Records, I 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:25.040 didn't have, you know, listen, I grew up without having 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:28.560 you know, a lot of exposure, certainly to black music. 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.880 And black culture. I I had listened to some blues 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:35.440 and some RMB and stuff like that, but I was really, uh, 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:37.720 you know, I had not grown up around that space. 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.840 And the first record that they sent me, um was 0:03:41.880 --> 0:03:44.880 a group that Easy had signed by the name of 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:48.160 Penthouse Players. Click now, I'm taking you way back now, 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.400 And I usual, that's exactly right. And I put that 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:56.000 in my player and uh, in my in my car 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:57.640 and I was driving down the street and I rolled 0:03:57.680 --> 0:04:00.160 the windows up real quick. I was like, oh my god, know, 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:04.880 I can't believe what they're saying. So and so that 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.840 was your exposure kind of like to rap music. The 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:11.000 gangster record that started me. That was the first record 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.520 I touched in in gangster rap, and in West Coast 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:18.880 gangster rap to be more specific. Okay, yeah, so tell 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.160 me about that a little bit, because you how were 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:23.960 your interactions back then? Were easy you those guys, because 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:25.960 you know, you got to see them come in and 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:27.520 kind of go through the whole thing that they were 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:31.359 going through. Yeah, you know, Um, I was an ignorant 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:34.279 young man, just like many people are, right, because you 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.599 don't have the experience to back it up. So I 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:42.640 didn't really understand early, like everything that was involved in 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:47.000 the game and exactly where people were coming from. It 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:50.440 took me a minute to get my head around, you know, 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:52.960 after sitting with a lot of great artists, with Um, 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.800 you know, with Jerry, Jerry and Easy, and you know, 0:04:56.880 --> 0:04:59.479 being in meetings with Cube and being in meetings with 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.080 with um, you know, the rap a lot folks and 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:04.960 all that Southern hip hop. It took me a minute 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:08.440 steel to get my head around the fact that these 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.640 were not just at that time, it's changed a little bit. 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.599 These were not just commercial initiatives, right to to make 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:18.760 money and sell records and create some kind of hoop law. 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.760 This was people talking about real life experiences. This was 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:27.800 people expressing their frustration about police brutality, or expressing their 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:33.799 frustration about segregation, or expressing their frustration about unequal treatment 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.440 and those kind of things. And then I really got 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:40.880 to understand people's walks and really where some of the 0:05:41.320 --> 0:05:44.279 lyrical content was coming from and what they were trying 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:48.120 to say, and it became very, very very important to me. 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:51.600 At that time. I was very impressed, saddened a lot 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.120 of times, but very impressed about the differences of journeys 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.560 between different cultures here in America and what you know, 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:02.760 motivated people just to tell their story, you know. So 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:04.960 so at that time, man, you know, and I will 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:07.560 hope that that lays true for the day. You think 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.600 kind of society and impressing um made an impression of 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.880 fund music back then. Oh yeah, I think that you know, 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:17.240 people typically if it's authentic, right, and it's real and 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.640 stuff that stands the test of time, you know, like 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:23.200 straight out of confident and stuff like that. These were 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:27.039 real stories about experiences that these young men were having 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.680 in their neighborhoods and in their lives, and no one 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.520 had really told it in a commercial way. I mean, 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.520 everybody that lived in the community, you know, had experienced 0:06:36.560 --> 0:06:40.000 certain things that you know, with the police and stuff 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:44.000 that's really topical right now, but no one really had 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.560 had brought it into the mainstream. You know. It was 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:50.719 very very hush hush, very behind the scenes, and really 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:56.200 exposed a lot of interesting cultural journeys that particularly at 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:59.440 that time Black America had been on even even today 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:02.680 that the long yeah exactly. So now let me ask 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:05.000 you this. Did you ever had a lot of personal 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.839 interaction with the guys in n w A. I had UM. 0:07:08.880 --> 0:07:13.120 I did have personal interaction, but it wasn't nearly as tight. 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.840 I was always in the meetings. I had certainly sat 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.240 with Eric UM, I had certainly done a lot of 0:07:19.240 --> 0:07:22.560 business with Jerry Heller quite frankly, because he was, you know, 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.120 at Ruthless at that time. That was a big deal 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.600 to us and I then started that was kind of 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.360 the n w A was really the beginning of where 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:34.400 I started to get exposed to artists, start to get 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:36.920 in front of them, start to try and you know, 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:40.680 see them as something other than just you know, stars 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:44.239 are you know, music artists, and start to really understand 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:47.080 them as people. But it took time from there. I 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:48.920 was you know, when you're at a label like that, 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:52.480 and particularly Priority being an independent label, you know you 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.559 kind of do a little bit of everything. You don't 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:57.840 just do what you're appointed to do. So we were 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:00.480 always in the room and such and always been part 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:04.000 of that UM and it grew over time. Yeah, because 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.680 we're gonna touch on Priority of Love because Priority has 0:08:06.760 --> 0:08:09.480 such a strong history and I'd like to tell people 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:11.960 that outside of Deaf Jam, they're probably one of the 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:15.120 greatest hip hop labels ever, I believe, so I mean, 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.000 it's personal to me. You know. Um, we had a 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:22.320 really tight family there, and it grew tremendously over time, 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.880 but in the early days that I got there, it 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:29.520 was really a tight family and those persons, those executives 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:31.400 and people that worked there, and a lot of the 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.360 artists that are filled with us. You know, Thank god, 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:39.040 I'm really close friends with today, um, really close personal 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:43.240 friends with and have maintained a fantastic relationship over the years. Okay, 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:45.320 so let me ask you this because you were around 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:46.920 during that time, so you got to see a lot 0:08:46.920 --> 0:08:50.160 of people come and go when that riff started happening 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:52.480 with um, you know n w A, when they decided 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:54.760 to break up, did that impact everything going on the 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.640 building at the time that that calls the stirring the building? 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.360 Oh yeah, you know, um, um, you know one of 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.520 the things. Yeah, absolutely, and and and you know a 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:08.040 lot of those riffs are obviously well documented, right, but 0:09:08.920 --> 0:09:12.760 you know, listen, you know we'll all for for the 0:09:12.800 --> 0:09:15.760 rest of time, and certainly during that time, it always 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:20.680 becomes typically about money or image, right, those are the 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:23.400 two things that are important in the entertainment business. So 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:27.559 if you disrespect somebody or if you play with their money, 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:29.440 or they think you're playing with your money. You don't 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:31.400 even have to be playing with it. You know. It 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:37.760 causes people to get pretty emotional. People getting real emotional. Now, 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.480 let me ask you this run you guys had somebody 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:43.640 and I think people often forget this in history, you 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.840 guys have was probably you know, he's probably considered one 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.120 of the greatest moguls and music right now, jay Z, 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:53.640 you guys actually had an opportunity to bring Jaz over 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:55.679 there the priority for his first to release his first 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.079 album because everybody was telling them, no, do you remember 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.160 an the details around the that I do. I do 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:04.440 some of them. I I prefer to leave private. But 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:09.720 uh uh yeah, jay Z and Damon Dash Jay and 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.000 there was a gentleman there by the name of al Branch. 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:16.800 You know, um they were the early Rockefeller Obviously everybody 0:10:16.840 --> 0:10:19.800 knows Dame and Jay Um. But we put out the 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:23.040 reasonable Doubt record there and you know, pardon me Ja 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:25.120 for saying this. I still think it's your best record 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:27.920 you ever did. You thought that was the best me 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:29.520 ever did so when you first heard that, you were 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.880 impressed with it. Oh yeah, I mean I I thought 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:35.960 that record was was you know, just off the chain 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.160 at that time, and you know it went on. We 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.160 did very well with it. I mean, you know, times 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:43.520 have have certainly changed in the music. This is like 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.079 it always does. But you know, our bar of success 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:50.000 has changed over the year, whether it becomes streams or 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:52.760 this or that. But you know, putting out records like that, 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.480 anything that went a gold or above for us was 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:58.679 considered to be a success. And I still have plaque 0:10:59.120 --> 0:11:01.520 on my wall for reasonable doubt, and I'm proud of 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:05.400 that one that was a great record or reasonable reasonable 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.880 that wouldn't go back then. That's a good thing. I think. 0:11:08.880 --> 0:11:11.679 It's one thing to say is these greatest albums too. 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:15.000 I thought I've heard people say that, So you guys 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.680 man that The thing I liked about Priority is that 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:22.199 I think you guys, versus building just recording artists, you 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:25.640 guys assisted a lot of moguls and building their brain. 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:28.680 You guys created a lot of companies. Let me ask 0:11:28.720 --> 0:11:31.840 you this one of the greatest success stories ever, one 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:34.199 of the best salesmen ever, I think in the history 0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.319 of rap music, Master Peak, can you take us back 0:11:37.360 --> 0:11:39.520 to the beginning of how that all came the whole 0:11:39.520 --> 0:11:42.240 no limit thing. Yeah, I will. I mean, you know, 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:46.160 there's still there's a lot of stuff out there now. 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:48.560 And again I stay in touch with a lot of 0:11:48.559 --> 0:11:52.920 that crew of No Limit crew. We spend an awful 0:11:52.920 --> 0:11:55.840 lot of time together. Me personally, I spend awful lot 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:57.840 of time with each one of them, whether with Bean 0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:01.880 or Mia or serve On or KLC and and the 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.560 medicine men and and that whole crew. But um, it 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.800 was really an interesting time because Priority had just come 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:14.079 off of the Chronic right, which was again probably one 0:12:14.080 --> 0:12:18.040 of the most influential hip hop route albums in history. 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:20.920 It it really introduced, in my humble opinion, the g 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:25.960 funk era and really commercialized hip hop, right. I mean, 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.040 that was one of the first records. It was certainly 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:32.000 the first record I was ever involved with. We got 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:36.120 commercial radio play, right that Actually I didn't. We We 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:40.040 were we were a street label. We put stuff out 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:44.000 with guerilla marketing and street marketing. We used the clubs 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:47.400 and the d days and you know, there wasn't exposure 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.840 on video on major network channels. B et well, you 0:12:50.880 --> 0:12:54.880 know what, and radio was never gonna play our music, right, 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.240 or the music of the artists that we so chose. 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:01.280 But Master you know, we had just come I mean, 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.800 Chronic was still blazing. I mean it's still doing great today, right, 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:09.200 And we had found success in that, and I had 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.400 I was had of sales at Priority. I worked for 0:13:12.400 --> 0:13:14.840 a man by the name of Bob Grossi there, and 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:16.760 I was doing mainly sales, and we were doing a 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:19.360 little bit of everything. But there was a gentleman there 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:21.240 by the name of David Winer that worked for me 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:23.360 at that time. He was a West Coast sales rep. 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:25.600 And David's been on quite a bit of TV. He's 0:13:25.640 --> 0:13:28.040 a good friend of mine. He's a great man, and 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.920 he really found discovered and brought Master P to Priority 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:35.880 and and and being David's boss at that time, David 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:37.960 and I were, you know, working to try and figure 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:41.040 out what we had here. I'll never forget, you know, 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:44.319 I was riding in a car before we signed Master P. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:48.080 And you know, um we put out the Tru Record, 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:50.920 which again I think is one of the best records 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:54.640 he ever did. That first Tru record was a hard record. 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:57.719 But David, you know, had brought him in and I 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.480 was sitting with P and and we had not signed 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:02.600 him yet. We were down in San Diego and Master 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:06.080 P and I went to Tijuana um um to go 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.800 to the clubs down there that night, and I remember 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:12.000 him saying on the on the ride down to Mexico, 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:14.680 he was like, I'm gonna be bigger than Dr Dre right, 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.000 And Dr dre was huge at that time. The chronic 0:14:18.080 --> 0:14:21.480 was gigantic still is. And I was like, you know, man, 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.200 if if I could tell you how many times I've 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.080 heard somebody say that to me, right, you know, I 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:31.160 hope you are. But that's a tall order, right, being 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:36.000 bigger than Dr Dre right, So just a further steal, 0:14:36.120 --> 0:14:38.240 not to to suck all the air out of the room. 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.800 But one of the things that continued to happen is 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:43.960 P would make these prophecies, right, he would say, I'm 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:46.360 gonna be bigger than Dr Dre. I mean, he did 0:14:46.400 --> 0:14:49.560 two d eighteen million dollars in eighteen months in volume 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.840 by putting out records with the tank on him, right 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:55.640 from all the artists that we're so familiar with now, right, 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.480 that was in that crew. And you know, he came 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:00.880 to us one day and he called me, said I'm 0:15:00.880 --> 0:15:04.560 gonna put out you know, we we He actually didn't 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:08.640 tell us. He just shipped a load of dolls master 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:14.000 P Dolls to the warehouse UM in Jacksonville at that time, 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:16.880 which we were distributing our records. We weren't in the 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.840 toy business, right, So I'm arguing with the guy about 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:23.160 the dolls. Before I could get done with the argument, right, 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.880 we put together a cell sheet and we put it 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.160 out to our retail partners and it's strolled out and 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.720 they were gone. You know. He said, I'm gonna make 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.640 a movie. It's called I'm About It, right. And I 0:15:34.760 --> 0:15:37.160 watched the movie and you know, hey, I'll be the 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:39.040 first one to tell you, and people that tell you 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.200 differently may or may not be telling the truth. I 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:43.360 didn't get it. I watched it. I was like, okay, 0:15:43.400 --> 0:15:45.840 you know, I was like, you know, that's the pretty, 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:48.640 you know, pretty low budget movie, you know what I mean, 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.800 not not a big deal. And the thing just blew out. 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.640 I think it went four times platinum at that time. 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:00.120 And then everything we sold on that thing went one way, 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:02.480 which was unheard of at the retail industry at that time. 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:05.080 We sold it all one way because you know, he 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.280 was like, hey, nobody believed in me. Nobody believed in 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:12.080 the in the movie so they can buy it one 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:13.560 way and on it if they want to have it 0:16:13.600 --> 0:16:16.360 on the shelf. So he he really changed a lot 0:16:16.360 --> 0:16:19.640 of the marketing and a lot of the you know, ideas, 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:23.040 and he was a real still is. I mean, he's 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.280 still a great man. He was a real force to 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:28.120 be reckoned with as it relates to marketing and concept 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:30.360 and then making him come to a reality. I mean, 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:32.880 there's the guy that said, hey, I'm gonna go play 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:38.760 basketball in the NBA, right and he didn't. So one 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:40.760 thing you can front of that guy. And I Steve 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:42.800 say that he probably has to be one of the 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:47.480 top five executives and black music, and I put that 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.920 up there with Verry Gordon. Um, you know, Russell Simmons, 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:53.280 you have to mention you have to mention Pee right 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.080 along with Easy and those guys, because I think but 0:16:56.200 --> 0:16:59.960 he is even more profound because he wasn't exactly the 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:05.120 best reverend the world. Yeah, I mean, look, you can 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:11.960 never judge a man's heart, and man that that guy 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.520 wanted it more than anybody I ever met, and he 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.600 went and got it and I'm proud of him. And 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:20.240 you know, hey, he uh, he just he he changed 0:17:20.280 --> 0:17:24.280 the game and he will will forever be cemented in 0:17:24.320 --> 0:17:28.480 all of our you know, history books as as a 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:32.160 rap icon, one of a kind, big props out to Pee, 0:17:32.400 --> 0:17:36.000 no joke. He's the truth all the way through and through. Yeah, 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:37.840 he is, And I think one of the things with 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:41.439 no limit. I think, like you said, I think he 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:43.480 was always kind of a step ahead of the curb 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:49.800 with everything. Great marketing guy, fantastic on execution, and again 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.040 I almost thought he was a prophet, right. He would 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:56.040 say something and then sure enough it would always come through, 0:17:56.119 --> 0:17:58.200 and I was like, my gosh, you know, I can't 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:00.720 argue with this man anymore because what ever he says, 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.920 whether I think he's right or wrong, doesn't matter. Well 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:06.879 one one way. You gotta look at it too. He 0:18:07.000 --> 0:18:08.919 had a kind of like a guy that was a 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.640 predecessor for gangs wrapping the South. You know, I don't 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:14.000 never discount Uncle Luke for what they were doing down there, 0:18:14.000 --> 0:18:16.280 but that was a different kind of music. I think 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:20.320 Ja Prince brought the gangsterism from the South, that gangster 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.720 element because when you listen to those um rap a 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.720 Lot CDs and you heard them talk at the beginning 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:27.960 of them, it almost like he was giving you a 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.440 message about what was going on in Houston at the time, 0:18:30.880 --> 0:18:32.680 and I look forward to those as a kid growing 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:36.320 up in the Midwest. I actoually love Rap a Lot Records, 0:18:36.359 --> 0:18:40.840 So was priority was priority was on Rap a Lot 0:18:40.880 --> 0:18:44.680 Ruppords first major distributor, weren't they. We were, We distributed 0:18:45.119 --> 0:18:48.240 records for Jay. Jay has become a good friend over 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.560 the years. I know that you you' all have a 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:54.600 relationship as well. And he's been on the show, right, Yeah, 0:18:54.640 --> 0:18:56.479 he's been on the show. J is a great dude. Man, 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.720 It's my buddy right then. So you know, you gotta 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:05.880 get of early pioneer credit to Jay Prince, especially when 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:09.359 it comes to Southern hip hop, because we all have 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:13.600 our our our geography, right. We got West Coast had 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:15.560 a little bit of a different feel and sound and 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:18.160 a little bit of different culture quite frankly the things 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.119 that people were into, right, and then you had the 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.919 East Coast, which certainly had a different feel and sound 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.520 and is credited with being the initial early you know, 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.880 introducing rap, right, and they had a different feel and sound. 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:34.600 And then in the South, you know, uh, you know, 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:39.119 Rap a Lot Records certainly defined that southern feel and sound, 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.560 and as far as I'm concerned, there will always be 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.680 the original down there signed some fantastic artists again, people 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:48.160 that have become friends of mine over the years, and 0:19:48.760 --> 0:19:51.680 much mad love, mad respect for I consider Rap a 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:54.359 lot to be my my family. Those people in the 0:19:54.440 --> 0:19:57.600 office down there, and Jay Prince and and and the 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.280 people that he had around him. J Is is one 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.520 of the kinds straight up great music executive and I 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:06.480 love him to death. He did a fantastic job, continues 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:10.199 to and there's another man. Whatever he touches, whatever he 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:13.440 gets involved in, whatever he wants to see come true, 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:16.479 he goes and makes it happen. And guys, you know 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:19.960 that's a beautiful thing, ain't it. Yes, it is because 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:22.880 the thing about Jay Prince too is dead. The thing 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.240 I always loved about Jay is Jay don't do a 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.359 whole bunch of time and wrestling, the live wrestling. He 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:29.520 kind of just give you that courtesy calls. He'd likes 0:20:29.560 --> 0:20:31.000 his head and that's what it deals, you know what 0:20:31.040 --> 0:20:33.680 I mean. And he's tom I've never heard him raise 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.639 his voice. It's always like, well, hey, this is what 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:38.800 we want to do now right here, and this is 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:40.680 what's gonna happen, and you gonna do this, and I'm 0:20:40.720 --> 0:20:42.520 gonna do that when we go going about our way 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:44.880 and you never know a bunch of live wrestling them 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.440 and say, there's just no nonsense. Yep, he's he's a 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.160 quiet man. I've had I've had full on meetings with 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:55.320 my staff with him, you know, because Jay and I 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.919 have been in several different you know, distribution relationships. We 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.159 were at Priority, we were at Warner with Asylum East West. 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:05.000 I had, you know, I had Jay there, and then 0:21:05.160 --> 0:21:07.360 I had Jay again at Fontana. When I was at 0:21:07.400 --> 0:21:11.840 Fontana and I had whole meetings with my staff and 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:13.920 and Jay didn't come to all of them. But when 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:16.680 he was there, I've had meetings where he didn't say 0:21:17.000 --> 0:21:20.879 a single word during the entire meeting. People like, is 0:21:21.560 --> 0:21:23.600 he cool with what we're talking about? Is he cool 0:21:23.640 --> 0:21:25.920 with what we're planning? Is you know that's on this 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:29.240 record releases? He in agreement? I said, If he's not 0:21:29.280 --> 0:21:34.760 an agreement, he'll let you know. Let you know. Now, 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:37.439 let me ask you this. You've been around some pretty 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:39.840 good executives, and you can answering this if you want 0:21:39.920 --> 0:21:41.560 to becau I don't know you can keep it one hundred. 0:21:42.200 --> 0:21:44.960 Have you ever had someone that was just an asshole 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:46.919 that you just didn't like dealing with, but they were 0:21:46.960 --> 0:21:50.280 successful and you kind of tolerating them. Oh yeah, I 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:54.080 mean I have a whole notebook full of those people, right. Um. 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.640 I mean, you know, life tends to throw us um 0:21:57.760 --> 0:21:59.719 um a lot of different kinds of people. And I'm 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:01.440 sure there are people that have me in that same 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:05.720 notebook on their desk too. You know, not everybody's built 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.719 for everybody else, you know, and you know, see all 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.879 I'll tell you, I've been around a lot of people 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.159 that I didn't I want to do business with that 0:22:15.200 --> 0:22:17.879 I didn't really personally like, but I needed to do 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:22.520 business with them because I respected him. And if I 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:27.119 lost respect or they lost respect for me, that's the 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:32.359 beginning of a very broken relationship. Yeah, you know, without that, 0:22:33.119 --> 0:22:35.680 you know, you can try, as at least my experiences, 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:37.439 you can try as hard as you want, but you 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:41.040 just can't get there. And I've worked for people who 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.560 just didn't respect me and didn't respect what I brought 0:22:43.600 --> 0:22:46.399 to the table, and that's okay. And I've had people 0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:49.639 work for me that I didn't respect and didn't respect 0:22:49.680 --> 0:22:51.200 what they brought to the table, and that's just a 0:22:51.240 --> 0:22:54.840 bad relationship. You need to cut that off sooner than later. Yeah, 0:22:54.880 --> 0:22:57.639 you know, and I'm really I'm really good friends with 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:00.800 um with one of you guys, biggest excellent over there. 0:23:00.920 --> 0:23:05.080 Um you may know him was mc tien. Yeah, you know, 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:07.359 me and him that became, you know, pretty good friends 0:23:07.400 --> 0:23:09.359 over the years. And the thing I left about MEC 0:23:10.040 --> 0:23:13.920 is he always talks about Priority with like that Priority 0:23:13.960 --> 0:23:17.520 brigs with Garden at Nostalgia, like like, man, it was 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:19.359 the best time effort, you know, like it was a 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:21.360 family you know what we're going in and just like 0:23:21.400 --> 0:23:23.440 you know, he tells me about the time he walked 0:23:23.480 --> 0:23:26.879 in he started who banging, and you guys just fully 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:30.600 supported him with it. Yep, yep. Max a friend of 0:23:30.640 --> 0:23:34.080 mine as well as you know, and um, you know, honestly, 0:23:34.560 --> 0:23:36.840 you know, one of the things about Priority was funny. 0:23:37.560 --> 0:23:40.200 I see this happen in corporate America all the time. 0:23:40.280 --> 0:23:42.920 It's gotten a little bit better because you know, we've 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:47.359 matured corporately, and music has matured, and hip hops now 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:50.520 that it's not a it's it's not a fad, it's 0:23:50.560 --> 0:23:54.640 not a music of a culture. It's not anything like that. 0:23:54.800 --> 0:23:59.040 It is the largest most popular genre in the world 0:23:59.160 --> 0:24:03.480 right now. And so with that said, you know, the 0:24:03.600 --> 0:24:08.280 thing that was magical about Priority is that it was 0:24:08.320 --> 0:24:14.520 a community of people with really a common goal, great leadership, 0:24:15.480 --> 0:24:22.560 and more importantly, we understood and we lived the culture. 0:24:22.600 --> 0:24:24.199 You know, we still live in a world where we 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:26.680 call people black and white and we refer to them 0:24:26.680 --> 0:24:29.680 about their ethnicity. I think that's played out and that 0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:32.720 I hope that during my lifetime we won't will refer 0:24:32.840 --> 0:24:35.480 to people as men and women or whatever they are, 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:38.440 right instead of referring to them by ethnicity. But we're 0:24:38.440 --> 0:24:41.000 still there. So if if we're still there, I'll do 0:24:41.080 --> 0:24:46.520 the same thing. We understood black culture, and we didn't 0:24:46.640 --> 0:24:49.280 understand it because we thought we wanted to be in 0:24:49.359 --> 0:24:51.600 it or we might. We understood it because we lived 0:24:51.600 --> 0:24:54.800 it every day we went. I went to the neighborhoods, 0:24:54.880 --> 0:24:58.440 I was in you know, people's houses, I was at 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:01.560 their parties, I was there for their holidays, you know. 0:25:01.600 --> 0:25:05.240 And as as the as much as we are the same, 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:08.800 there are different cultural differences no matter where you're at 0:25:08.840 --> 0:25:10.920 in the north, the south, the east, and west. Like 0:25:11.000 --> 0:25:14.960 we just talked about, you know, different language, different way 0:25:15.000 --> 0:25:19.960 of speaking, sometimes different customs, lots of different things. We 0:25:19.960 --> 0:25:22.959 were in the middle of it. It was what we 0:25:23.040 --> 0:25:25.959 did for a living, and we did it together. And 0:25:25.960 --> 0:25:28.879 we did have a family atmosphere and a loyalty in 0:25:29.000 --> 0:25:33.280 a and a real camaraderie inside that that building. That 0:25:33.400 --> 0:25:36.720 was really magical. I'll leave you with this as it relates. 0:25:37.640 --> 0:25:39.560 You know, one of the one of the things that 0:25:39.640 --> 0:25:44.600 happened when Priority was purchased by E. M. I and I, 0:25:45.000 --> 0:25:48.040 you know, I mean once My purchased that, I resigned 0:25:48.080 --> 0:25:51.720 and I went to Warner Um and worked for Sylvia Rhne. 0:25:51.960 --> 0:25:55.000 Sylvia was kind enough to give me a shot to 0:25:55.000 --> 0:25:56.760 come to Warner and go to what we called the 0:25:56.800 --> 0:25:59.000 majors at the time, because I'd been an independent my 0:25:59.040 --> 0:26:04.120 whole life. As a big step and you know, I 0:26:04.200 --> 0:26:08.160 just when they bought it, I knew that they weren't 0:26:08.200 --> 0:26:13.359 going to maintain the culture of the company, whether they 0:26:13.359 --> 0:26:16.400 intended to or not. I knew that was gonna go away, 0:26:17.080 --> 0:26:20.159 and so I cut my you know, I cut ties 0:26:20.200 --> 0:26:23.000 and left Um immediately. You know, I was one of 0:26:23.040 --> 0:26:25.119 the first to leave, because I just knew it was 0:26:25.200 --> 0:26:28.520 never be the same. We were now owned by a corporation. 0:26:29.119 --> 0:26:32.520 We weren't owned by Mark Serami and Brian Turner who 0:26:32.640 --> 0:26:35.480 founded the company. You know, they were, they were still there, 0:26:35.520 --> 0:26:38.560 but but they weren't going to be the boss long term. 0:26:38.560 --> 0:26:40.640 E M I was. They paid the money, they wrote 0:26:40.640 --> 0:26:46.600 the cash. You know, Before we're going, because I know 0:26:46.640 --> 0:26:49.679 you have a long story career, before we're going, I 0:26:49.760 --> 0:26:53.479 want to ask you this, is there anyone that turned 0:26:53.560 --> 0:26:57.320 up to be super duper successful that the building might 0:26:57.320 --> 0:27:00.159 have fought? Have you ever going to bring someone into 0:27:00.240 --> 0:27:03.639 someone in the building kind of folks in it? I 0:27:04.160 --> 0:27:07.960 think that any time you go to bring any one end, 0:27:08.440 --> 0:27:11.879 people fight you on it, whether it's another executive or 0:27:11.920 --> 0:27:15.840 it's another artist or whatever. But you know, I will 0:27:16.040 --> 0:27:19.000 I will never forget. We wanted to be in business 0:27:19.000 --> 0:27:21.199 with cash money, and there was a lot of fighting 0:27:21.200 --> 0:27:23.280 in and around cash money, and I wish we'd had 0:27:23.320 --> 0:27:26.400 them to be part of that family. Um, you know, 0:27:26.600 --> 0:27:30.520 for me as a sales guy at that time, and 0:27:30.560 --> 0:27:32.639 again we did lots of other things, but I was 0:27:32.880 --> 0:27:38.000 classically trained sales guy. That's all I cared about, right, 0:27:38.040 --> 0:27:40.960 I didn't care about who was, you know, arguing or 0:27:40.960 --> 0:27:44.000 fighting with who or what colors, people were wearing, the 0:27:44.119 --> 0:27:46.119 rags they were flying. None of that hattered to me. 0:27:46.400 --> 0:27:50.159 I just cared that it would sell right, that that 0:27:50.320 --> 0:27:52.480 something would go out there and be impactful, and that 0:27:52.560 --> 0:27:57.520 we could go and create something exciting. And they always 0:27:57.560 --> 0:28:00.720 fight and steal no matter what it is, because no 0:28:00.760 --> 0:28:03.920 one's gonna have the same opinion, so there's always one 0:28:03.960 --> 0:28:08.200 side versus the other, and you know, sometimes you do so. 0:28:08.200 --> 0:28:10.600 So so you mean to tell me that Priority Ricords 0:28:10.640 --> 0:28:12.800 could have had cash money records over there, and I'm 0:28:12.800 --> 0:28:15.600 pretty sure, I'm pretty sure no limit had a problem 0:28:15.680 --> 0:28:19.480 with that. There were lots of people that had a 0:28:19.520 --> 0:28:24.119 problem with it. And frankly, you know, I was I 0:28:24.240 --> 0:28:27.600 was a vote, a very uh you know minority. Well, 0:28:28.520 --> 0:28:31.640 I was an insignificant vote that I wanted them there, 0:28:33.680 --> 0:28:35.359 I bet you did. You know, those guys sold a 0:28:35.359 --> 0:28:37.200 lot of rigors, and when they came there was kind 0:28:37.200 --> 0:28:40.000 of like the you know what what what the funny 0:28:40.000 --> 0:28:42.280 thing it was about that situation. It was not I 0:28:42.360 --> 0:28:45.560 know Birdman and I know you know, I think they're 0:28:45.560 --> 0:28:48.920 both great people. But I think at that time, though, 0:28:48.960 --> 0:28:51.680 I think that with all the master p doing what 0:28:51.720 --> 0:28:54.520 he did, cash money maybe might have had the success 0:28:54.520 --> 0:28:56.760 because p kind of opened up the door for New Orleans. 0:28:57.880 --> 0:29:00.880 I will always see p as upon in ear down there. 0:29:01.520 --> 0:29:05.360 He was the one that got you know, got his 0:29:05.400 --> 0:29:08.800 shot first in a way, right, j right, but certainly 0:29:08.800 --> 0:29:13.080 for New Orleans. Um. 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You know what I'm saying, 0:31:09.440 --> 0:31:11.760 you guys, don't and use that promo code in case 0:31:11.800 --> 0:31:14.680 you know you're feeling age. You don't necessarily have to 0:31:14.720 --> 0:31:17.840 be on if you have no problems. But so you 0:31:18.040 --> 0:31:20.880 left Priority Records. You over now the major label because 0:31:20.880 --> 0:31:22.600 a lot of people you know, it's funny when you 0:31:22.600 --> 0:31:25.480 say a major, because at that time I think Priority 0:31:25.600 --> 0:31:29.000 was probably doing more volume than the major's work. We 0:31:29.000 --> 0:31:32.440 were we were doing quite well. And um, you know, 0:31:32.520 --> 0:31:35.720 we had certainly got the attention of everybody in the 0:31:35.800 --> 0:31:38.160 industry because we were on the top of the charts. 0:31:38.640 --> 0:31:43.040 Don't forget before we leave Priority that in w A 0:31:43.480 --> 0:31:48.479 for Life record, right that debuted at number one because 0:31:48.600 --> 0:31:55.000 sounds Scan changed the reporting and it was more accurate, 0:31:55.760 --> 0:31:58.000 and so n w A ended up being the number 0:31:58.000 --> 0:32:00.360 one record in the country, and that opened a lot 0:32:00.440 --> 0:32:04.120 of people's eyes. Um, the other genre that really benefited 0:32:04.160 --> 0:32:07.320 from that change that sound scan was country because country 0:32:07.480 --> 0:32:10.360 had a similar country music that is, had a similar 0:32:10.880 --> 0:32:13.920 you know path, and that they weren't quite recognized for 0:32:14.000 --> 0:32:17.640 the contributions that they were making to the retail community. 0:32:17.760 --> 0:32:20.080 The retailers knew it, but the world didn't really know 0:32:20.160 --> 0:32:23.360 it until sound Scan changed their formula. And frankly, that 0:32:23.440 --> 0:32:26.560 was a big deal. So we had caught a priority, 0:32:26.600 --> 0:32:28.640 had gotten a lot of attention along with master p 0:32:28.840 --> 0:32:31.000 being on the chart squad every week with a brand 0:32:31.040 --> 0:32:35.360 new record that was was out there post that. Yeah, 0:32:35.480 --> 0:32:37.560 we for those out there that may not know what 0:32:37.680 --> 0:32:40.400 sound scans man, because we're tell them about retail now, 0:32:40.480 --> 0:32:43.480 that's like, that's like ancient stuff to most of these 0:32:43.520 --> 0:32:48.600 keys nowadays. Scan Back in the day, children and young 0:32:48.600 --> 0:32:51.760 people listening to the episode right now, sound scan was 0:32:51.800 --> 0:32:53.920 how they tract the sales of records. You know, every 0:32:53.920 --> 0:32:56.040 time they scanned, it would give record beings at a 0:32:56.040 --> 0:32:58.520 records For one time when we went sound scan and um, 0:32:58.760 --> 0:33:00.360 I could talk about it now, we got a whole 0:33:00.400 --> 0:33:02.160 bunch of free CDs in the mail all the time. 0:33:02.200 --> 0:33:04.520 It was pretty cool. Once people in sound scan, we 0:33:04.560 --> 0:33:08.760 started getting all kinds of stuff for free, yep, and 0:33:08.760 --> 0:33:13.000 and and what you know at the end of the day, 0:33:13.480 --> 0:33:17.280 what sound scan results were what you just referred to 0:33:17.360 --> 0:33:21.560 steal is it drove the numbers on the Billboard charts, 0:33:21.720 --> 0:33:24.280 right for the top two hundred and the and the 0:33:24.320 --> 0:33:26.640 pop charts and those kind of things. And so when 0:33:26.720 --> 0:33:30.720 n w A shot to number one when we were 0:33:30.760 --> 0:33:33.520 you know, we released the record, it was because the 0:33:33.600 --> 0:33:36.160 sound scans reporting and it ended up being number one 0:33:36.160 --> 0:33:39.720 on the Billboard chart. Oh wow, So that changed a 0:33:39.720 --> 0:33:42.880 whole lot of things. Now, let me ask you this. 0:33:44.920 --> 0:33:48.960 You go into the major system, what did they Was 0:33:49.000 --> 0:33:51.400 there anything there that you just didn't like versus the 0:33:51.440 --> 0:33:54.600 old regime versus what you were used to doing. Oh, 0:33:54.640 --> 0:33:56.520 there were so many things. You know, any time you 0:33:56.600 --> 0:34:00.920 make change, things are different, right, and changes always hard 0:34:01.000 --> 0:34:03.440 because we want things to kind of remain the same, 0:34:03.600 --> 0:34:08.239 right always. Um, even if they're better, we still maybe 0:34:08.320 --> 0:34:10.600 don't know until we get in it. But yeah, the 0:34:10.680 --> 0:34:14.480 biggest change for me going to the majors is coming 0:34:14.480 --> 0:34:17.640 out of an independent like priority And I've referred to 0:34:17.680 --> 0:34:21.879 it several times during this podcast, is you can call 0:34:21.960 --> 0:34:26.319 yourself whatever you want, right, vice president of sales, You know, 0:34:27.280 --> 0:34:30.760 head a radio, but if the box needs to be moved, 0:34:30.800 --> 0:34:33.319 somebody goes and moves the box, doesn't matter what your 0:34:33.320 --> 0:34:36.680 title is. And and and that was what I missed 0:34:36.680 --> 0:34:39.000 the most is you know, I had a really great 0:34:39.040 --> 0:34:42.120 relationship with Power one oh six and Hot nineties seven 0:34:42.160 --> 0:34:44.719 in New York, and I was driving a lot of 0:34:44.719 --> 0:34:48.680 initiatives with them on the advertising side, and a lot 0:34:48.719 --> 0:34:53.279 of our records were We're getting introduced there because we 0:34:53.360 --> 0:34:55.840 had a good relationship with them, and they were starting 0:34:55.840 --> 0:35:00.200 to understand, you know, the importance, particularly of Southern hip 0:35:00.239 --> 0:35:03.120 hop when it came to master p right, because then 0:35:03.239 --> 0:35:06.759 you have to continue to break down barriers of what 0:35:06.880 --> 0:35:11.920 people think was great over time, and that when I 0:35:11.920 --> 0:35:14.920 got to the majors, all changed. If you're head of sales. 0:35:15.000 --> 0:35:18.080 I was head of sales at Elector with Sylvia. You 0:35:18.160 --> 0:35:21.520 do sales. You don't do an R, you don't do 0:35:21.600 --> 0:35:26.040 any radio promotion, you don't do any marketing. You do sales. 0:35:26.480 --> 0:35:28.839 That's your job. Stay in your lane, go do that. 0:35:28.960 --> 0:35:32.279 And that's the way larger corporations are because they have 0:35:32.320 --> 0:35:36.560 a bunch of people assigned to do everything else instead 0:35:36.600 --> 0:35:38.719 of you know a few people that have to do 0:35:38.800 --> 0:35:43.160 everything right. And that was a culture shock for me. Yeah, exactly. 0:35:43.280 --> 0:35:45.279 And I bet you that was because one of the 0:35:45.320 --> 0:35:48.520 things that I was running joke to me about industry 0:35:48.520 --> 0:35:51.279 because I worked in the publishing industry one time and 0:35:52.320 --> 0:35:54.920 I just got offered a job. It was funny, maybe 0:35:54.920 --> 0:35:57.520 like six months ago a good friend of mine nine 0:35:57.680 --> 0:35:59.680 might leave hit me up and say, hey, you should laugh, 0:35:59.760 --> 0:36:02.799 you know, apply for this job. Right. So, I'm doing 0:36:02.800 --> 0:36:05.760 a phone interview with the woman and she's probably thirty 0:36:05.800 --> 0:36:08.000 years younger than me, and we're talking about it. We 0:36:08.040 --> 0:36:10.319 get to talking about I won't say what company it was, 0:36:10.400 --> 0:36:13.279 but we get to talking about Prince and I was 0:36:13.320 --> 0:36:15.960 talking about, you know, Purple Rain, and she didn't know 0:36:16.000 --> 0:36:19.759 what I was talking about. And and I kind of 0:36:19.800 --> 0:36:24.160 politely changed my mind as about the position. Who have 0:36:24.239 --> 0:36:27.560 to having a conversation with her because I realized, you know, 0:36:27.640 --> 0:36:29.719 this woman right here, I could possibly be working for her. 0:36:29.719 --> 0:36:31.719 And she don't know nothing about music, She don't know 0:36:31.800 --> 0:36:35.080 nothing about black music. She's just someone that's there because 0:36:35.120 --> 0:36:37.680 of whatever reason. But she had no passion for the music. 0:36:38.040 --> 0:36:40.080 And I just didn't want to go into a situation 0:36:40.080 --> 0:36:43.360 of where I was just doing paperwork and research all day. 0:36:43.400 --> 0:36:45.840 I wasn't. I wasn't getting into it like that because 0:36:45.880 --> 0:36:50.320 to me, that's what the music business has become, almost 0:36:50.800 --> 0:36:54.839 all about analytics and just the pure numbers. I'm something. 0:36:54.880 --> 0:36:58.040 Don't get me wrong, those are very important tools, but 0:36:58.120 --> 0:37:01.000 when you're trying to find that next stuff, I don't 0:37:01.000 --> 0:37:03.200 think Brian turning those dudes just in there looking at 0:37:03.239 --> 0:37:05.600 metrics back and I think they were listening to stuff 0:37:05.640 --> 0:37:11.719 that was gonna be impactful to the coaching. Yeah, yep, 0:37:11.920 --> 0:37:16.520 those guys were, you know true. I mean, one of 0:37:16.520 --> 0:37:18.920 the things that I find a little bit interesting about 0:37:18.960 --> 0:37:22.800 the music business now is it is, to your point, 0:37:22.880 --> 0:37:27.600 still very analytic driven. Right, everything's out there in front 0:37:27.640 --> 0:37:30.400 of you, all the metrics, all the numbers. You know, 0:37:30.480 --> 0:37:34.000 there's no hiding from the data, so to speak. And 0:37:34.760 --> 0:37:39.080 that I mean back in the early music days, and 0:37:39.520 --> 0:37:42.600 you know, long before my time and up through my 0:37:42.719 --> 0:37:47.160 time in the music business, these guys were signing artists 0:37:47.160 --> 0:37:50.799 that they believe we're going to be successful. And they 0:37:50.800 --> 0:37:54.120 didn't have a bunch of reports they were looking at. 0:37:54.200 --> 0:37:56.759 They went to a show watched where they're not the 0:37:56.760 --> 0:38:00.200 crowd knew the lyrics, right, they listened to of the 0:38:00.719 --> 0:38:05.359 local retailers. Were they selling the records right? They went 0:38:05.400 --> 0:38:08.680 and did some of that grassroots stuff and lots of people, 0:38:08.680 --> 0:38:11.880 and I've done it several times. I signed many artists 0:38:12.480 --> 0:38:17.560 that probably in a analytical way, did not deserve to 0:38:17.600 --> 0:38:19.719 have a record deal, but I signed him because I 0:38:19.719 --> 0:38:22.520 believe they were passionate and I believe that they were, 0:38:23.120 --> 0:38:26.800 you know, worthy of having a shot. I signed a 0:38:26.840 --> 0:38:31.000 deal at at Fontana, you know, with a good friend 0:38:31.040 --> 0:38:33.520 of mine, Mark Tanner and Chime Music, because he wrote 0:38:33.560 --> 0:38:38.440 a song that was influential to me, and I signed 0:38:38.480 --> 0:38:43.399 him based on that any of the numbers were gonna 0:38:43.440 --> 0:38:48.160 be off. You did fine. I mean, it wasn't a 0:38:48.160 --> 0:38:54.120 giant success, but I'm glad we did it well. You know, 0:38:54.280 --> 0:38:56.640 sometimes it has to be involved that dude, Like I 0:38:57.160 --> 0:38:59.280 just think, man, a lot of music has to start 0:38:59.360 --> 0:39:02.160 coming from the old. A lot of it has to 0:39:02.200 --> 0:39:04.520 mean something to somebody because we go off because it's 0:39:04.520 --> 0:39:06.680 a lot of stuff out there. It's like, let's keep 0:39:06.680 --> 0:39:09.760 it real. It's not. It's hard to get a people's 0:39:09.800 --> 0:39:12.080 attention right now, but if you've got some bs, it's 0:39:12.080 --> 0:39:14.279 easy to get people's attention. Now. This is definitely the 0:39:14.440 --> 0:39:17.359 error of just um. And I don't want to say 0:39:17.400 --> 0:39:19.200 because I like a lot of these young people's music. 0:39:19.239 --> 0:39:21.279 I'm not one of those old dudes to talk about 0:39:21.280 --> 0:39:24.479 the keys and what they're doing. But I definitely think 0:39:24.560 --> 0:39:27.120 that the system is kind of rigged right now that 0:39:28.080 --> 0:39:30.560 you know, people can have the appearance of getting attention 0:39:30.560 --> 0:39:32.480 that they want to, but it's not really going there. 0:39:32.480 --> 0:39:35.240 It's not really making an impact like it is versus 0:39:35.280 --> 0:39:38.520 somebody just being interested in the oddity just going on 0:39:38.560 --> 0:39:42.000 at that time, you follow what I'm saying. I mean 0:39:42.200 --> 0:39:45.120 I always referred to it and still referred to it 0:39:45.200 --> 0:39:49.279 like this still authenticity, right? Is it authentic? Is that 0:39:49.400 --> 0:39:52.279 really who you are? Is that really you're talking about 0:39:52.280 --> 0:39:55.600 stuff you really know something about? That meant something to me. 0:39:55.719 --> 0:39:58.840 Like we talked about the early Priority days, these guys 0:39:58.880 --> 0:40:02.760 were living that line. If they weren't fake, they weren't 0:40:02.880 --> 0:40:05.799 like you know, it wasn't stuff they didn't experience, And 0:40:05.840 --> 0:40:07.879 that meant a lot more to me than I can 0:40:07.920 --> 0:40:10.960 go and tell stories all day that aren't true, right, 0:40:11.120 --> 0:40:13.200 And I can go tell stories about things that I 0:40:13.239 --> 0:40:15.920 don't know anything about, and sooner or later, you know, 0:40:16.040 --> 0:40:20.960 game recognized game I don't care what error we're in. 0:40:21.200 --> 0:40:24.160 If you're not really authentic, at some point, somebody's gonna 0:40:24.160 --> 0:40:26.560 see through it. Now. Whether they care or not, if 0:40:26.600 --> 0:40:32.080 the beats hot enough right now is my question exactly. 0:40:32.440 --> 0:40:34.479 And you know, I'd like to tell people all the time. 0:40:36.160 --> 0:40:38.040 I don't want to keep going back to Pe. But 0:40:38.120 --> 0:40:41.800 Pete broke down on so many barriers. I think Pete 0:40:41.920 --> 0:40:44.719 was the first person that proved kind of like, now, 0:40:44.800 --> 0:40:46.839 don't get me wrong with Pete, but he was by 0:40:46.880 --> 0:40:49.799 far not the worst rapper of all time. There are 0:40:50.000 --> 0:40:52.600 people that you know, actually way worse than them to 0:40:52.680 --> 0:40:55.239 call themselves rappers, you know what I mean. I think 0:40:55.320 --> 0:40:58.000 Pete proved though that if you had to beat man 0:40:58.120 --> 0:41:01.560 the hook catchy beating the catchy in the story, people 0:41:01.560 --> 0:41:04.120 were buying to the public. I don't think Joe public 0:41:04.160 --> 0:41:08.399 care about that like that. People were buying into that 0:41:09.560 --> 0:41:15.080 because of the brand, and that's what artists and labels 0:41:16.040 --> 0:41:20.520 and entities should strive to be. People bought things that 0:41:20.600 --> 0:41:25.239 came out with that tank on it, period. Whether they'd 0:41:25.280 --> 0:41:28.160 ever heard a beat or a note on it, they 0:41:28.280 --> 0:41:33.160 knew they had to have that released because it had 0:41:33.200 --> 0:41:35.560 the tank on it. And if it had the tank 0:41:35.640 --> 0:41:38.719 on it. It had to represent what they had experienced 0:41:38.719 --> 0:41:42.040 with for with the No Limit releases, and that is 0:41:42.560 --> 0:41:47.440 that was the magic there was creating a brand that 0:41:47.560 --> 0:41:50.160 people had to be a part of, remembering pulling the 0:41:50.200 --> 0:41:53.959 tanks out on the basketball court and the dependance and 0:41:54.480 --> 0:41:57.239 it went on and on and on. And he was brilliant. 0:41:57.640 --> 0:42:00.160 He was a gene He still is. I mean I'm 0:42:00.160 --> 0:42:02.120 talking like he's not still here. He just had a 0:42:02.120 --> 0:42:07.000 birthday this week. He's a genius, he really is. And 0:42:07.840 --> 0:42:12.440 watching don't get a big head. And you know that 0:42:12.480 --> 0:42:18.040 the you know the thing? You know, man, I think 0:42:18.080 --> 0:42:20.279 what it is a lot of these kids today and 0:42:20.320 --> 0:42:22.719 I hear people people hit people hit me up all 0:42:22.760 --> 0:42:25.000 the time for whatever reason. They think we could do 0:42:25.040 --> 0:42:27.879 something with their music. Everybody's looking for a break. Yeah, 0:42:28.400 --> 0:42:31.720 And um, I tell these guys, like I asked people, 0:42:34.200 --> 0:42:36.440 what is it that you want out of your career? Why? Why? 0:42:36.440 --> 0:42:38.440 Why do you want to put an album out? If 0:42:38.440 --> 0:42:40.600 they tell me if the first thing out they mass 0:42:40.640 --> 0:42:42.319 they want to make money, I never deal with it 0:42:42.360 --> 0:42:45.080 again because that's gonna be a situation that's not gonna 0:42:45.120 --> 0:42:47.440 be They're not in it for the right reasons. I 0:42:47.480 --> 0:42:49.719 think I think when you know, I know, when I 0:42:49.800 --> 0:42:51.840 was making music and I was putting out music and 0:42:51.840 --> 0:42:54.120 I was working for the publishing company and doing my thing, 0:42:54.800 --> 0:42:59.040 I was there because I love music and I would 0:42:59.040 --> 0:43:00.719 have something to do with it. Probably would have did 0:43:00.760 --> 0:43:02.879 the job for free. They had told me there's gonna 0:43:02.880 --> 0:43:04.480 pay for this job. You know, you come in and 0:43:04.480 --> 0:43:06.919 do it because I was passionate about it. I love 0:43:07.040 --> 0:43:10.759 listening to the music. I loved getting the opportunities, like 0:43:10.760 --> 0:43:12.960 when we have Warner Brothers and somebody hit us up 0:43:13.000 --> 0:43:14.640 and asks if we had a song for this, and 0:43:14.640 --> 0:43:16.399 we're looking at the scene to movie and you're trying 0:43:16.400 --> 0:43:19.400 to play something with that particular scene, it had to 0:43:19.400 --> 0:43:21.520 be all about the music. And if it's not about that, 0:43:21.560 --> 0:43:24.279 and I think that that's the same for anything, for him, 0:43:24.400 --> 0:43:26.520 for whatever, all the life you're in, I think you 0:43:26.560 --> 0:43:28.799 have to have some level of passion for it. Have 0:43:29.000 --> 0:43:31.560 you ever found throughout your courses you've been around a 0:43:31.600 --> 0:43:33.759 long time, man, have you ever just looked at this 0:43:33.760 --> 0:43:35.279 stuff and say it, Man, I'm tired of but I 0:43:35.280 --> 0:43:38.080 don't want to deal with it no more. Oh Still, 0:43:38.160 --> 0:43:42.680 It's exactly why I'm where I'm at right now, is 0:43:42.760 --> 0:43:46.720 you're a thousand percent right. I worked for thirty years 0:43:47.440 --> 0:43:50.319 and never felt like I was working. I was doing 0:43:50.360 --> 0:43:53.040 something I loved. I was doing it with people I love. 0:43:53.239 --> 0:43:55.600 Did I get an arguments, did we have fights, did 0:43:55.680 --> 0:44:00.279 we have threats? Did we have drama every day? But 0:44:00.400 --> 0:44:02.840 I loved it. And at the end of the day, 0:44:02.920 --> 0:44:05.120 I never felt like I got up and went to work. 0:44:05.200 --> 0:44:07.160 It was part of my life. It was part of 0:44:07.200 --> 0:44:10.400 what I might to your point steal. It was passion, 0:44:10.800 --> 0:44:13.200 and that's what should get people up in the morning, 0:44:13.400 --> 0:44:16.240 because if you go do what you're really passionate about, 0:44:16.480 --> 0:44:19.359 the money will always be there. You'll always find your 0:44:19.360 --> 0:44:22.160 way to success because you're not working. People would say 0:44:22.160 --> 0:44:23.960 to me all the time, I go to dinner, I'd 0:44:23.960 --> 0:44:25.960 be on my phone. I'd go to here and I'd 0:44:26.000 --> 0:44:28.839 be on my phone. I'd be They had blackberries, then 0:44:28.840 --> 0:44:30.960 they had iPhones, and all of a sudden, you know 0:44:31.080 --> 0:44:34.880 you were connected seven. I was constantly working. I was 0:44:34.960 --> 0:44:39.360 constantly on a plane, flying across the world always, and 0:44:39.520 --> 0:44:42.680 you know, hey, at the end of the day. People 0:44:42.680 --> 0:44:44.440 would say to me all time, and you're a workaholic, 0:44:44.480 --> 0:44:48.399 and be like, I'm not. This is what and who 0:44:48.480 --> 0:44:51.399 I am, it's not what I'm trying to be. It's 0:44:51.400 --> 0:44:53.759 not what I want to be. It's just part of 0:44:53.800 --> 0:44:57.200 who I am. I'm enjoying myself. This is fun for me. 0:44:57.520 --> 0:45:00.200 I love this. So at the end of the day, 0:45:00.239 --> 0:45:02.960 I never felt like I went to work a day 0:45:02.960 --> 0:45:05.759 of my life. When it started to be work for me, 0:45:06.680 --> 0:45:12.879 it's when I stepped away mhm. Because that told me, 0:45:13.040 --> 0:45:16.719 just like you just described in such great advice to anyone, 0:45:16.800 --> 0:45:18.880 no matter where you're at in the walk of your life, 0:45:19.239 --> 0:45:23.200 to listen to ma'am. When you stop enjoying what you're doing, 0:45:23.239 --> 0:45:27.799 you're doing because you have to. That truly is slavery. Yeah, 0:45:27.840 --> 0:45:32.560 it is. You know, if you if you're chained because 0:45:32.600 --> 0:45:35.400 you have to go because you gotta do this or 0:45:35.440 --> 0:45:37.080 you gotta do that. Now, I know a lot of 0:45:37.120 --> 0:45:39.200 people gotta pay their bills and they gotta do this 0:45:39.280 --> 0:45:42.840 and do that. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. There's always 0:45:42.840 --> 0:45:45.839 an option to continue to look for ways to put 0:45:45.920 --> 0:45:48.839 you in line with your purpose. And if you can 0:45:48.880 --> 0:45:53.280 get aligned with your purpose, it will be so much easier. 0:45:53.320 --> 0:45:55.440 You may you may hey, you may have to be 0:45:55.440 --> 0:45:57.680 in bondage for a few years to do what you 0:45:57.760 --> 0:46:00.359 gotta do to be able to get there. But at 0:46:00.360 --> 0:46:03.040 the end of the day, that should be your goal. 0:46:03.120 --> 0:46:06.319 Not money, not this, not that, not how do I 0:46:06.400 --> 0:46:09.080 sleep more and work lass, none of that. What is 0:46:09.120 --> 0:46:13.440 it that I'm here and I'm really designed to do? 0:46:13.920 --> 0:46:16.040 Ye know, what's your purpose? And that's that's That's one 0:46:16.040 --> 0:46:19.600 of the things that I preached my key. It's right. Um. 0:46:19.640 --> 0:46:23.520 I've always told my kids, um that if you look 0:46:23.600 --> 0:46:26.239 for a job so to speak, now, there's nothing wrong 0:46:26.280 --> 0:46:28.399 with the work, because you can't staying here you sit 0:46:28.440 --> 0:46:30.279 on your tail all day. You can't stay at home, 0:46:30.360 --> 0:46:31.759 you sit on your gass all day while I go 0:46:31.840 --> 0:46:34.560 pay the bills. I don't mean that, but I think 0:46:34.640 --> 0:46:38.319 that if you're in a situation of where you're going 0:46:38.360 --> 0:46:41.040 to go work somewhere forty hours a week and it's 0:46:41.120 --> 0:46:43.480 somewhere that you hate, and you go do that until 0:46:44.880 --> 0:46:48.400 you're almost just like just pretty much just um, just 0:46:48.520 --> 0:46:51.560 pretty much not living life so to speak. You're you're 0:46:51.600 --> 0:46:54.920 not You're just existing because there's no passion and what 0:46:55.000 --> 0:46:58.799 would you do. But I think if you continue to 0:46:58.880 --> 0:47:03.200 work towards your wife, I think you'll find success. I 0:47:03.600 --> 0:47:06.160 agree with you still and and you know, hey, listen, 0:47:06.719 --> 0:47:09.120 I'm still in and around the business. I still have 0:47:09.200 --> 0:47:12.080 some publishing assets, I still have some artists I'm involved with. 0:47:12.120 --> 0:47:15.520 I'm involved with a really big artist right now. Heritage 0:47:15.600 --> 0:47:19.279 artists were working through both publishing and masters and all 0:47:19.320 --> 0:47:21.719 that kind of stuff, and I've been blessed to still 0:47:21.800 --> 0:47:24.560 be called upon to do that. And you and I 0:47:24.640 --> 0:47:27.160 talked the other day a little bit because we're friends. 0:47:27.239 --> 0:47:29.520 Maybe people out there don't know that we're actually friends. 0:47:29.560 --> 0:47:34.719 Maybe they think we're not, you know. And but but 0:47:34.840 --> 0:47:36.640 you know, we talked to the you know the other day. 0:47:36.680 --> 0:47:40.240 And I never and again, I don't live and regret. 0:47:40.320 --> 0:47:43.080 I don't look back, have you know, Um, are there 0:47:43.080 --> 0:47:46.000 things I'd like to change? One thousand percent. Anybody goes 0:47:46.040 --> 0:47:47.719 through this life is gonna have some things that they 0:47:47.719 --> 0:47:50.080 wish they'd have done differently that they didn't. And that's 0:47:50.120 --> 0:47:53.239 all good and fine. But you know what, I just 0:47:53.719 --> 0:47:57.479 simply never I never hired a publicist. I never tried 0:47:57.520 --> 0:47:59.719 to put my name in the Marquee lights. I never 0:47:59.800 --> 0:48:01.920 did a bunch of that type of stuff. Was that 0:48:02.239 --> 0:48:05.719 smart or not smart? I don't really know. So far, 0:48:06.120 --> 0:48:08.680 I probably could afford to I haven't missed any meals, 0:48:08.760 --> 0:48:10.520 thank God. You know what I mean, I haven't. I 0:48:10.560 --> 0:48:13.480 haven't ever had to go hungry, So I think it 0:48:13.520 --> 0:48:15.839 worked out just fine. But I never did a lot 0:48:15.840 --> 0:48:18.799 of that stuff. I just followed my passion and I 0:48:18.840 --> 0:48:22.200 had three things that I tried to accomplish. I tried 0:48:22.239 --> 0:48:24.680 to be direct and honest, and it defended a lot 0:48:24.760 --> 0:48:29.560 of people oftentimes right, um, because be at the boardroom 0:48:29.800 --> 0:48:33.440 or the streets, sometimes that truth can be really sharp 0:48:33.520 --> 0:48:38.200 and sting, right, and to say it, then this is 0:48:38.239 --> 0:48:42.720 what it is. Um. And then I also just never 0:48:43.480 --> 0:48:47.160 wanted to be deceptive. I didn't want to be. My 0:48:47.239 --> 0:48:51.239 reputation and my name was very it still is very 0:48:51.239 --> 0:48:55.680 important to me. I can walk into any community anywhere 0:48:55.719 --> 0:48:58.920 in the world and find my way through no problem, 0:48:58.920 --> 0:49:01.480 and that's a gift from God. Out I'm appreciative. It's nothing, 0:49:01.480 --> 0:49:04.080 not not something I creative or something I was given. 0:49:04.520 --> 0:49:06.640 But I can go to the Calihope projects, I can 0:49:06.680 --> 0:49:08.920 go to Cabrini Green, I can go to watch and 0:49:08.960 --> 0:49:10.840 I can walk right through there and I don't have 0:49:10.880 --> 0:49:13.520 any problem holding my head up because people are people 0:49:13.640 --> 0:49:17.480 and it's all good and it's about how you carry yourself, 0:49:17.600 --> 0:49:20.839 the character who you are, and trying to be authentic 0:49:20.920 --> 0:49:23.360 to your earlier point, man, trying to live your purpose 0:49:23.440 --> 0:49:26.160 and be authentic, right, And people recognize that and they 0:49:26.200 --> 0:49:28.880 respect it, and most people want to see you do 0:49:28.960 --> 0:49:31.279 well as a result, you know what I mean. And 0:49:31.320 --> 0:49:33.920 I have a firm belief man, that how you treat 0:49:34.000 --> 0:49:37.319 people in life life is going to reciprocate that to 0:49:37.360 --> 0:49:40.680 you in return. Because and now I'm not asking this 0:49:40.719 --> 0:49:42.879 and this is my own personal opinions. If I don't 0:49:42.920 --> 0:49:45.319 want to, nobody's saying going back and seeing Ryan said this, 0:49:45.800 --> 0:49:49.040 like you're going back to those executives they actually had 0:49:49.040 --> 0:49:53.120 the opportunity to work with them. And you mentioned one earlier, 0:49:53.200 --> 0:49:58.600 Damon Dash He treated people really, really bad when he 0:49:58.680 --> 0:50:02.279 was successful on top. And see the one big misconception 0:50:02.320 --> 0:50:05.320 that people have when they're in power. They think people 0:50:05.320 --> 0:50:07.800 are bowling down to them because they respect them. No, 0:50:08.960 --> 0:50:11.960 it's not that they respect, they're tolerating. They're tolerating you 0:50:12.000 --> 0:50:14.160 because they almost have to at that point because you're 0:50:14.160 --> 0:50:17.560 in a successful situation. You're part of successful situations, so 0:50:17.600 --> 0:50:19.600 they feel like that they may have to take some 0:50:19.680 --> 0:50:21.879 of that crap, that tudition out at that time. But 0:50:22.360 --> 0:50:25.520 the minutes you fall off, instead of somebody giving you 0:50:25.520 --> 0:50:27.239 a hand to reach you, they're gonna push you down 0:50:27.360 --> 0:50:30.480 even further because they're glad to see that happening to you. 0:50:30.520 --> 0:50:33.040 So I've always been a guy getting pulled up into 0:50:33.120 --> 0:50:36.879 situations to where I've never treated anyone bad in my life. 0:50:36.960 --> 0:50:39.440 During my life, I always treated the janitor like he 0:50:39.520 --> 0:50:43.840 was the CEO. And I think how we treat people 0:50:43.920 --> 0:50:46.480 is very very important. I just think that that that's 0:50:46.480 --> 0:50:48.800 what it is now, did you know? You know what? 0:50:48.960 --> 0:50:50.839 Still at the end of the day, And again, I'm 0:50:50.880 --> 0:50:54.000 a long way from perfect, but I keep it one 0:50:54.080 --> 0:50:56.520 hundred You know me well enough. I keep it right 0:50:56.560 --> 0:50:58.239 down in the middle. I say what I feel and 0:50:58.400 --> 0:51:01.000 and doesn't mean I'm right, but I say what I feel. 0:51:01.320 --> 0:51:03.960 I'm authentic about it. I try to treat people the 0:51:03.960 --> 0:51:06.319 way that I want to be treated at the end 0:51:06.360 --> 0:51:08.200 of the day. I'm sure there are a bunch of 0:51:08.200 --> 0:51:10.600 people that can say this that about the other thing, 0:51:11.040 --> 0:51:13.080 and most of them probably don't know me very well, 0:51:13.200 --> 0:51:15.799 because if you do, I really try to live my 0:51:15.880 --> 0:51:18.560 life like that. Do I do it perfect all the time? Now? 0:51:19.320 --> 0:51:21.799 But I I'll tell you what we're talking about, in 0:51:21.840 --> 0:51:26.320 my humble opinion is respect again. Right, If I respect 0:51:26.360 --> 0:51:29.399 you as another man or another human being, then we'll 0:51:29.480 --> 0:51:32.480 at least start out on the right course, right, right, 0:51:32.719 --> 0:51:36.160 And you can destroy that right. You can lose my 0:51:36.320 --> 0:51:40.000 respect for you, right if if if you work at it, 0:51:40.000 --> 0:51:43.480 it's not hard to do. I can lose your respect 0:51:43.520 --> 0:51:46.480 for me if I work at it and show you 0:51:46.920 --> 0:51:51.000 something different than an authentic and straightforward person that I 0:51:51.040 --> 0:51:55.000 know still that you respond to. Okay, that's my choice 0:51:55.040 --> 0:51:59.120 to destroy that respect, right, not not yours. Right, that's 0:51:59.160 --> 0:52:01.279 mine if I if I choose to put myself in 0:52:01.280 --> 0:52:03.880 a position where you're not gonna respect me. Yeah, we 0:52:03.920 --> 0:52:09.200 all make choices. We all make choices. So anyway, we 0:52:09.280 --> 0:52:11.280 got off on that. I took you down a rabbit 0:52:11.360 --> 0:52:13.400 hole a little bit. You get back on your courts. 0:52:13.840 --> 0:52:17.120 It's all good. I want to ask you, you work 0:52:17.200 --> 0:52:20.480 with all of these like brilliant people that wan't to 0:52:20.520 --> 0:52:24.680 become legendary. And when I asked this question, I'm not 0:52:24.719 --> 0:52:26.920 talking about the seal Via Rohans. In the world of 0:52:27.040 --> 0:52:31.560 Mark's Ramy's Who is the best who you who? Who 0:52:31.560 --> 0:52:33.960 would you say is the best executive that you've worked 0:52:33.960 --> 0:52:38.440 with urban music. In urban music, like urban music, Like 0:52:38.480 --> 0:52:41.200 if you had to pick, like from Monst the Dang Dashes, 0:52:41.320 --> 0:52:45.040 the Masterps, the p Diddies, or whoever, who would you 0:52:45.040 --> 0:52:47.520 say was the one that had their stuff the most together. 0:52:48.360 --> 0:52:51.600 I mean, I don't know them all, guys. So this 0:52:51.719 --> 0:52:57.200 is just based on my experience. You know, Brian Turner 0:52:57.320 --> 0:53:00.400 and Mark's Ramy A Priority will forever being aimed in 0:53:00.440 --> 0:53:05.200 my mind as great urban executives because they were just 0:53:05.360 --> 0:53:10.719 doing what they were passionate about. Too. They weren't really trying, 0:53:10.760 --> 0:53:12.800 they weren't trying to change the world. They were trying 0:53:12.840 --> 0:53:15.520 to just do what they do, you know what I mean. 0:53:15.800 --> 0:53:18.760 And it did change the world, and that was really 0:53:18.800 --> 0:53:22.719 attractive to me. Um. But I gotta tell you, Um, 0:53:22.760 --> 0:53:28.440 I've had so many experiences with fantastic executives, not necessarily 0:53:28.560 --> 0:53:31.160 only in urban because once I went to the majors, 0:53:31.160 --> 0:53:33.480 I got exposed to all kinds of genres and I 0:53:33.520 --> 0:53:36.000 got to work with lots of legendary people, and I'm 0:53:36.800 --> 0:53:41.920 very appreciative of that. But Jim ury Is is a 0:53:41.920 --> 0:53:46.280 dear friend of mine, and Jim was a fantastic music 0:53:46.680 --> 0:53:49.839 executive who worked under Doug Morris for a very long time, 0:53:49.960 --> 0:53:53.560 but one of the greatest record what is certainly was 0:53:53.600 --> 0:53:57.480 a cornerstone of building, you know, the largest record company 0:53:57.480 --> 0:54:00.360 in the world at Universal, and he out me in 0:54:00.400 --> 0:54:03.600 to run Fontana and I'll forever be in his debt. 0:54:03.719 --> 0:54:06.200 I can't. I can go on and on about Jim 0:54:06.239 --> 0:54:09.120 and the things I learned from him about being a 0:54:09.160 --> 0:54:12.280 great executive music or not. The way he said things, 0:54:12.360 --> 0:54:15.520 the way he analyzed things, the way he processed things, 0:54:15.520 --> 0:54:17.960 and I was very blessed to have enough time with 0:54:18.080 --> 0:54:21.360 him too. And by the way, I'm an acquired taste, 0:54:21.760 --> 0:54:25.520 So thank you Jim for taking it at some somebody 0:54:25.520 --> 0:54:28.319 who's an acquired taste, because I didn't taste that good 0:54:28.320 --> 0:54:32.759 to everybody out there. Jim Jury and those guys like that, 0:54:33.560 --> 0:54:36.799 those are expected. I'm talking about the guys that were 0:54:36.880 --> 0:54:39.160 kind of like self made as executive, you know, the 0:54:39.200 --> 0:54:42.480 guys that were the heads of the of the Jail 0:54:42.560 --> 0:54:45.480 Bond records, of the No Limit records, and things like that, 0:54:45.600 --> 0:54:49.200 These freed executives. I mean, you know, how can you 0:54:49.280 --> 0:54:53.600 not go back to Jay Prince and start there right? 0:54:53.840 --> 0:54:59.480 I mean, Jay was I mean, Jay created a culture 0:54:59.719 --> 0:55:04.439 and genre out of Houston, Texas. That will that will 0:55:04.480 --> 0:55:07.960 never be erased. He just simply created a movement in 0:55:08.000 --> 0:55:14.919 a brand um And he's a very very very smart man. Yeah, 0:55:14.960 --> 0:55:16.960 he has to be, because if you look at what 0:55:17.040 --> 0:55:21.719 he's done outside of music and himself is incredible. I mean, 0:55:21.920 --> 0:55:24.160 if you you know, he owns a couple of islands, man, 0:55:24.200 --> 0:55:26.799 and he has a rank to where you gotta you know, 0:55:26.840 --> 0:55:29.440 you gotta. You just can't walk to his front door 0:55:29.480 --> 0:55:31.839 to deliver the mail, right, you know what I mean, 0:55:31.840 --> 0:55:33.680 you have to go on the drive actually get to 0:55:33.760 --> 0:55:36.759 his crib. So I think he's done some incredible things, man, 0:55:37.800 --> 0:55:41.040 And I think the biggest thing with him is he 0:55:41.120 --> 0:55:44.359 did it all kind of on a low too, and 0:55:44.360 --> 0:55:47.200 he did it on zoom. He did he did it 0:55:47.239 --> 0:55:49.880 without you know, a lot of these other people and 0:55:49.920 --> 0:55:53.400 a lot of these people that were talking about had 0:55:53.440 --> 0:55:59.399 to have money from Corporate America or somebody else. Jay 0:55:59.480 --> 0:56:05.920 created his own success m from from nothing. M hm. 0:56:06.840 --> 0:56:09.640 So sorry, J, to keep your name in my mouth 0:56:09.719 --> 0:56:12.000 this you know, during this podcast the whole time. But 0:56:12.080 --> 0:56:14.560 you know, I love and respect you, but that's the truth. 0:56:14.640 --> 0:56:16.560 You've got to put J at the top of the list. 0:56:16.600 --> 0:56:22.960 He created an entire movement, genre and culture from nothing. Yeah, 0:56:23.000 --> 0:56:27.239 and you know, personally, like the person today, one of 0:56:27.320 --> 0:56:29.799 the newest exists and he's not that new. He just 0:56:29.920 --> 0:56:31.920 kind of he's not that new at this point. But 0:56:32.040 --> 0:56:36.520 my buddy on Anthony Tiffic, top Dog over TV and 0:56:38.200 --> 0:56:40.600 another guy man you don't never hearn of his cruise 0:56:40.680 --> 0:56:43.080 name and no miss you'll never see him on a 0:56:43.120 --> 0:56:45.320 whole bunch of stuff. And he kind of stays behind 0:56:45.360 --> 0:56:48.479 the scenes, like I think an executive kind of ship, 0:56:48.640 --> 0:56:50.239 you know what I mean. He lets his artists go 0:56:50.239 --> 0:56:53.680 out and shine. He's not the main headline. Hey he 0:56:53.680 --> 0:56:57.600 he uh. He's done a fantastic job with Top Dog Entertainment. 0:56:57.920 --> 0:57:00.799 Another one that you need to mention too is Strange 0:57:01.160 --> 0:57:08.080 music what Travis Okan and Technology Travis Okwan in Tech 0:57:08.160 --> 0:57:10.600 nine are not to be trifled with. They've created an 0:57:10.600 --> 0:57:14.000 empire in Kansas City, Missouri. They've done a fantastic job 0:57:14.600 --> 0:57:17.400 again to people that I consider to be friends of mine. 0:57:17.440 --> 0:57:20.840 I think they're fantastic people. For to me, I've had 0:57:20.880 --> 0:57:23.320 the privilege of working with them on a couple of 0:57:23.360 --> 0:57:27.160 different versions. Great people from those are my buddies, and 0:57:27.200 --> 0:57:31.480 they've they've created an empire. Um, you know, you can 0:57:31.520 --> 0:57:35.920 go on and on. Listen. Sugar Night created one of 0:57:35.920 --> 0:57:39.520 the biggest brands in the business Death Row Records. Yeah, 0:57:39.640 --> 0:57:42.720 well you know mom of Sugar Gills. And that's like 0:57:42.960 --> 0:57:46.480 probably one of the great American tragedies right there, is 0:57:46.520 --> 0:57:51.200 that he really was on the cusp of being probably 0:57:51.280 --> 0:57:56.720 the greatest record label black music is black music record 0:57:56.800 --> 0:58:00.160 label of all time. He was that close. Because you 0:58:00.240 --> 0:58:02.640 think about it, if he wouldn't have, if he would 0:58:02.680 --> 0:58:06.280 have just made some better decisions and kind of stayed 0:58:06.320 --> 0:58:08.520 behind the camera a little bit and kind has made 0:58:08.560 --> 0:58:11.840 some moves, he would have wound up having eminem He 0:58:11.880 --> 0:58:16.160 would have probably wound up having bringing TV along. Are 0:58:16.280 --> 0:58:19.560 really envisioned should one day becoming like the head of 0:58:19.760 --> 0:58:23.880 Interscope one day. I envisioned that because one thing, if 0:58:23.920 --> 0:58:26.240 you take away all the bs and the Shenanigans and 0:58:26.320 --> 0:58:29.560 all that other stuff, he was a really pretty freaking 0:58:29.640 --> 0:58:33.760 brilliant dude. I mean, you can front on it that 0:58:34.080 --> 0:58:39.280 that death throws a household name. So even given all 0:58:39.320 --> 0:58:42.880 the stuff you're referring to, he still created a household 0:58:42.920 --> 0:58:47.360 name with some some of the greatest artists of our time. Yeah. Did. 0:58:47.440 --> 0:58:49.680 First of all, you know that the thing was and 0:58:49.720 --> 0:58:54.200 as you know, with that businessman, I think that sometimes 0:58:54.240 --> 0:58:56.360 it may be a little necessary to let your the 0:58:56.480 --> 0:59:00.360 lean on somebody a little bit. But after he acquired trade, 0:59:00.480 --> 0:59:03.920 you figure outside the trade, he wouldn't got a skinny tall, 0:59:03.960 --> 0:59:07.480 skinny key I from Long Beach and made him a 0:59:07.520 --> 0:59:10.360 household name. Don't get me wrong, Pray you had a 0:59:10.360 --> 0:59:15.320 lot of influence in that. But another level though, no doubt, 0:59:15.880 --> 0:59:19.880 and you you gotta give props square they're due, right, 0:59:20.080 --> 0:59:22.320 I mean, you know that's what this is really about. 0:59:22.360 --> 0:59:26.720 At the end of the day. You know, any success 0:59:27.000 --> 0:59:33.760 in life is not come easy. And look, they're always humans, right, 0:59:34.160 --> 0:59:38.880 always humans that are circling around trying to be a 0:59:39.000 --> 0:59:43.360 part of that or tear you down. And it's easy 0:59:43.520 --> 0:59:48.120 to get drunk with success. It's easy to feel like 0:59:48.560 --> 0:59:53.439 I'm better than you, or I'm invincible or whatever. Those 0:59:53.520 --> 0:59:57.160 emotions that come up that that you know, we think 0:59:57.280 --> 0:59:59.280 might now that we're a little bit more mature, it 0:59:59.320 --> 1:00:02.080 may seem like they're crazy. But man, you know, when 1:00:02.120 --> 1:00:05.840 you're twenty five year old, you're never gonna die. Oh no, 1:00:06.000 --> 1:00:10.000 you think you're mortal, You're gonna live forever, right, So 1:00:10.480 --> 1:00:14.360 it's easy to fall into that trap of not really 1:00:14.840 --> 1:00:19.320 you know honestly, you know you can you cannot fulfill 1:00:19.400 --> 1:00:21.560 your purpose to you can be living it and not 1:00:21.720 --> 1:00:24.800 fulfill it. Yeah, they're just dope. So man, let me 1:00:24.880 --> 1:00:26.600 ask you this one, because I know you're busy and 1:00:26.640 --> 1:00:29.880 I ain'tle hold ship the whole night. What's going on? 1:00:30.040 --> 1:00:32.080 What do you have what you're working on right now? 1:00:32.120 --> 1:00:34.160 Because I know you've got something incredible going right now 1:00:34.240 --> 1:00:39.920 that you probably won't even disclose. Well, I've got I've 1:00:39.960 --> 1:00:44.960 got three fundamental things that I'm intimately involved in. I've 1:00:45.000 --> 1:00:50.720 got a very large name brand heritage artist that has 1:00:50.840 --> 1:00:56.040 publishing masters and um UM and those rights that we're 1:00:56.080 --> 1:00:58.840 working through, which is fantastic. So we're able to create 1:00:58.960 --> 1:01:03.720 some new intent. We're able to put some contemporary flavor 1:01:03.920 --> 1:01:06.960 in and around a really really important iconic artist. So 1:01:07.040 --> 1:01:09.720 we're doing we're working creatively, and we're working on the 1:01:09.760 --> 1:01:13.800 business side to maximize that UM And I've got two 1:01:13.840 --> 1:01:16.280 other things. I've got an application that I'll talk to 1:01:16.360 --> 1:01:19.040 you about that has some patents in around it, and 1:01:19.400 --> 1:01:22.800 we're getting close to make that announcement that will really 1:01:23.040 --> 1:01:28.480 change the face of the music experience online. And we're 1:01:28.560 --> 1:01:32.160 right there. We've got the patents in place. That's fairly confidential, 1:01:32.280 --> 1:01:33.920 but it won't be long before I'll talk to you 1:01:33.960 --> 1:01:37.800 about it. Steal and then, Um, I am also a 1:01:37.960 --> 1:01:43.400 partner in an electronic motorcycle company, so we're just now 1:01:43.560 --> 1:01:46.320 starting that. As you know, I'm a big motorcycle writer. 1:01:46.400 --> 1:01:48.160 I think I wrote it to studio to see you 1:01:48.160 --> 1:01:52.120 a couple of times. Um, and uh, oh did I 1:01:52.240 --> 1:01:58.280 lose you? Oh you're back Yep for a second there, 1:01:58.280 --> 1:02:01.520 I thought I lost you. But anyway, a UM, I'm 1:02:01.560 --> 1:02:05.360 a partner in in that company, and we're just now starting. 1:02:05.440 --> 1:02:07.680 We've got kind of our design in place, and you 1:02:07.760 --> 1:02:10.720 know this green initiative and the way that the world's 1:02:10.760 --> 1:02:14.400 going in and away from that carbon footprint. We're gonna 1:02:14.520 --> 1:02:16.920 try and uh and contribute to that and be a 1:02:17.000 --> 1:02:18.880 part of that. And I'm excited about that. So those 1:02:18.880 --> 1:02:23.120 are the three whips, three things I have going on now, um, 1:02:23.560 --> 1:02:26.320 that that are interesting to me and that I'm passionate about. 1:02:26.480 --> 1:02:30.160 So God has been great. I'm I'm still you know, 1:02:30.280 --> 1:02:33.280 I'm still here, thank God. I'm still healthy, and I 1:02:33.360 --> 1:02:37.760 still love the music. You know, music business, music business. 1:02:37.800 --> 1:02:39.680 If they'll have me back and somebody wants to pay 1:02:39.720 --> 1:02:42.200 me a lot of money on part time job, I'm available. 1:02:44.480 --> 1:02:47.880 And that's the thing, man, these guys don't want to 1:02:47.920 --> 1:02:49.840 pay that much money and that that's like when I 1:02:50.000 --> 1:02:51.800 had to thought the job, I said, well, man, I'll 1:02:51.800 --> 1:02:55.360 be losing money because when you go work for those 1:02:55.440 --> 1:02:57.800 companies they want to have a say so and everything 1:02:57.920 --> 1:03:00.720 that you got going on, like they were, that's one thing. 1:03:00.840 --> 1:03:03.760 They said, Well, if you came over the podcast, let's see. 1:03:04.600 --> 1:03:06.480 Of course, I said, unless you guys got a way 1:03:06.520 --> 1:03:08.160 to paint me a whole ship to the money to 1:03:08.240 --> 1:03:10.080 come over and do that exclusively, I said, but what 1:03:10.160 --> 1:03:13.960 I'll do with my off time is my business. So 1:03:14.040 --> 1:03:17.320 that didn't work out too well, but I appreciate you 1:03:17.440 --> 1:03:19.320 coming on man, working to people hook up with you 1:03:19.400 --> 1:03:23.880 with man. Man, I'm I'm around at info at Spaulding 1:03:24.240 --> 1:03:27.040 s P A U L D I N G E 1:03:27.240 --> 1:03:30.840 n T. Edward Nancy Thomas dot com, So Spaulding E 1:03:31.000 --> 1:03:34.919 n T dot com info at you can always reach 1:03:35.040 --> 1:03:38.080 me there. I'm not hard to find. There's usually somebody 1:03:38.160 --> 1:03:40.840 around that knows who I am and has my digits. 1:03:40.880 --> 1:03:44.080 My phone number hasn't changed in twenty five years, so 1:03:44.160 --> 1:03:46.760 I'm not running from anybody, so that's the same. So 1:03:46.840 --> 1:03:48.680 if you got my digits, so you can find somebody 1:03:48.760 --> 1:03:50.560 that has them, all you gotta do is buzz me Terry, 1:03:50.840 --> 1:03:53.560 just asking it. Okay, there we go, right there. Run. 1:03:53.640 --> 1:03:56.400 I appreciate you, brother. Hey, I thank you so much 1:03:56.440 --> 1:03:58.760 for having me on. I love you man, I want 1:03:58.880 --> 1:04:00.680 wish the best for you and your family and want 1:04:00.720 --> 1:04:03.080 you guys to stay healthy and safe. I can't wait 1:04:03.160 --> 1:04:05.439 to see you again when we all start moving around, brother, 1:04:05.640 --> 1:04:10.560 and thank you man for time with you. Thank you man, 1:04:10.640 --> 1:04:13.120 Appreciate you all right, bro,